An initiative redirecting money collected by stores from the sale of carry-out bags to a fund supporting environmental projects qualified for the November ballot.
What supporters have dubbed as the “Environmental Fee Protection Act” applies to carry-out bags sold by grocery and certain other retail stores whenever state law bans free distribution of a particular kind of carry-out bag and mandates the sale of any other kind of carry-out bag.
The measure will be one of two on the November ballot related to carry-out bags. A referendum seeking to overturn the law banning the use of single- use plastic bags qualified for the ballot in February 2015.
If the law banning the use of single-use plastic bags is not overturned, passage of the initiative would potentially result in the several tens of millions of dollars annually being transferred to a special fund administered by the Wildlife Conservation Board for certain environmental and natural resources purposes, according to an analysis conducted by the Legislative Analyst’s Office and Department of Finance.
The initiative required valid signatures from 365,880 registered voters – – 5 percent of the total votes cast for governor in the 2014 general election — to qualify for the ballot, Secretary of State Alex Padilla said today in announcing it had qualified for the ballot.
—City News Service